Apple Tuesday unveiled an upgrade to the flagship iPad Pro with the same design but a slew of new features. Apple has updated both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch models, and customers can now place orders online, with retail availability in the Apple Store starting October 26.
The new iPad Pro features the M2 processor, an upgrade over the M1 it replaces. Introduced earlier this year in the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, the M2 has the same 8-core CPU as the M1 (four performance cores and four efficiency cores) but is about 15 percent faster than the M1.
The iPad Pro’s M2 chip also includes 10 GPU cores, an increase over the 8 GPU cores in the M1, delivering a 35 percent increase in graphics performance. Apple also says the M2’s 16-core Neural Engine is 40 percent faster and its 100Gbps unified memory bandwidth is 50 percent better. The new iPad Pro supports up to 16 GB of memory in the 1 TB and 2 TB storage configurations.
Like the M2s in the MacBooks, the iPad Pro’s M2 has an improved media engine that includes acceleration for ProRes video, and Apple says the M2 can transcode ProRes video three times faster than the M1 iPad. Pro. The new iPad Pro is Apple’s device to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E, allowing the tablet to take advantage of the wireless technology’s 1200MHz spectrum, if the router providing Wi-Fi connectivity also supports it.
Apple Pencil hover experience
iPad Pro users often use the Apple Pencil (2nd generation) for accurate input, and Apple has added a new Pencil hover feature. The iPad Pro can detect the pencil as close as 12mm from the screen, and you can preview your marker before applying it for more precision. You can also make adjustments, such as resizing a spot before placing it, and expanding text fields by floating.
Hover works in Apple apps on the new iPad Pro and third-party developers can implement the new feature. The new feature requires iPadOS 16, an M2-equipped iPad, and the second-generation Apple Pencil, so it’s not available on older iPad models of the original Pencil.
M2 iPad Pro Pricing and Availability
The new M2 iPad Pro is now available to order online for delivery on October 26. Apple offers the tablet in silver or space gray in various storage options. The following is the pricing structure of iPad Pro and accessories.
- 11-inch iPad Pro: starts at $799 / £899 (128 GB, Wi-Fi only) and $999 / £1,079 (128 GB, Wi-Fi + cellular)
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro: starts at $1,099 / £1,249 (128 GB, Wi-Fi only) and $1,299 / £1,429 (128 GB, Wi-Fi + cellular)
- Apple Pencil (second generation): $129/£139
- Magic keyboard: $299 / £319 (11-inch iPad Pro) and $349 / £379 (12.9-inch iPad Pro)
- Smart Keyboard Folio: $179 / £199 (11-inch iPad Pro) and $199 / £219 (12.9-inch iPad Pro)
- smart folio: $79 / £89 (11-inch iPad Pro) and $99 / £109 (12.9-inch iPad Pro)
11-inch iPad Pro (2022)
Recommended retail price:
$799 (128GB, Wi-Fi only)
12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022)
Recommended retail price:
$1,099 (128GB, Wi-Fi only)
